BS 550 
.G5 
Copy 1 



wwimwrs 




Class J3SSlJL££l 
Book. &K £ 



CUEXRIGHT BEPQSm 



A 
PRIMER 

of 

Old Testament 
History 



BY 

Rev. Francis E. (jjigot, D.D. 
Professor of Sacred Scripture 

St. Joseph's Seminary 
DUNWOODIE, N. Y. 



NEW YORK 

THE PAULIST PRESS 

]20 WEST 60TH ST, 

1919 



1 Gc* 



mtbil ©betat 

ARTHUR J. SCANLAN, D.D. 

Censor Libromm 



Ifmprtmatur 

* PATRICK J. HAYES, D.D. 

Archbishop of New York 



New York, May 28, 19 19 



Copyright by " The Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle 
in the State of New York " 



NOV 15 1919 

©CI.A535719 



PREFACE 



The present work deals with the part 
of Sacred History which extends from 
the Creation of the world to the Coming 
of our Lord. It is meant to serve as a 
" Primer " or small elementary book of 
instruction in Old Testament history, 
and is therefore written in a simple and 
brief manner. The facts which it sets 
forth are only the leading events which 
are recorded in the Sacred Scriptures 
of the Old Testament, and the order 
which it follows in stating them is no 
other than the one which is found in the 
Douay Version or Catholic translation of 
Holy Writ. The spelling of Scriptural 
names, whether in the body of the work 
or in the Maps and Illustrations, is in- 
fill] 



PREFACE 

variably that with which Catholic readers 
are familiar. The dates which appear in 
the various parts of the book, are not 
all equally certain; they are those with 
which the Douay Version is supplied, 
and they will be found useful in realiz- 
ing the chronological trend of the events 
narrated. Finally, the heading to each 
chapter of the work gives references to 
the books or parts of books of Holy Writ, 
of which each particular chapter is but a 
brief account. 

This " Primer of Old Testament His- 
tory " is intended to form the first of a 
series of " Biblical Primers " for Catholic 
readers. 

Dunwoodie Seminary, N. Y., May, 1919. 



[iv] 



CONTENTS 



I. From the Creation to Abraham. 

Page 

1. The Creation 1 

2. Paradise and the Fall 5 

3. Cain, Abel and Seth 9 

4. The Flood and the Tower of Babel. 13 

II. From Abraham to Moses. 

1. Abraham. Birth and Youth of Isaac. 18 

2. Isaac and Jacob 22 

3. Joseph and his Brothers 26 

III. From Moses to Solomon. 

1. Moses delivers Israel 30 

2. Moses gives the Law to Israel 34 

3. Moses leads Israel to the Border of 

Chanaan 41 

4. Josue conquers Chanaan 47 

5. The Greater Judges of Israel 53 

G. Samuel and Saul 58 

7. King David, 63 

IV. From Solomon to the Captivity in 

Babylon. 

1. The Reign of Solomon C3 

2. The Northern Kingdom or Kingdom 

of Israel 73 

[v] 



CONTENTS 

Page 

3. The Southern Kingdom or Kingdom 

of Juda 79 

Table showing the Chronology of the 
Kings of Israel and Juda 86, 87, 88 

V. From the Captivity in Babylon to Our 
Lord. 

1. The Babylonian Captivity 89 

2. The Return from the Exile 94 

3. The Machabees . 99 

Alphabetic Index 105 

Maps and Illustrations. 

Babylonian Memorial of the Fall 8 

Ruins of the Tower of Babel 17 

Map of the Exodus Facing 33 

Group of Mt. Sinai 35 

The Sacred Egyptian Bull, Apis 38 

TI12 Ark, Altars, Seven-branched Can- 
dlestick _- - 40 

The Tabernacle 42 

Palestine with the Divisions of the 

Tribes -- 52 

Sketch Plan of Site of Jerusalem 64 

Plan of Solomon's Temple and adjoin- 
ing Buildings- __ 71 

Assyria and the Adjacent Lands 78 

Palestine (End of Volume). 
[vi] 



I. FROM THE CREATION TO 
ABRAHAM. 

(4004-1996 B.C.) 
1. The Creation. 

i Genesis i.-ii. 3.) 

The bright heavens over our heads 
and the solid earth under our feet have 
not always existed; they owe their be- 
ginning to the goodness and pow T er of 
Almighty God. When first made, the 
earth did not look as it does now: there 
was nothing living on it — neither men 
nor animals, and there was nothing 
growing on it — neither trees, nor grass, 
nor flowers; it was all round covered over 
with deep waters, and all was darkness. 
Then God spoke and said: " Let there be 

[1] 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM 

light," and the pleasant light of day was 
made, and marked the first day of Divine 
work. 

A second time God spoke : " Let there 
be a firmament, " and it was so; the 
beautiful blue sky formed the vault of 
heaven, and a part of the waters were 
changed into clouds, which went up to 
take their place in the sky above. Such 
was the work of the second day. 

Then God spoke again and said : " Let 
the waters that are under the heaven be 
gathered into one place, and let the dry 
land appear," and it was so: divided from 
the sea, the earth now appeared with its 
mountains and hills and valleys, and also 
with its springs, brooks, and rivers which 
refreshed the dry land, and poured them- 
selves into the sea; nay more, at God's 
new command, it brought forth grass, 
and herbs, and trees bearing fruit. Thus 
ended the third day. 
[2] 



THE CREATION 

After this, God said : "Let there be light 
in the firmament of heaven, to divide the 
days and the years, and to give light 
upon the earth," and it was so: in the 
heavens, the sun rose up to give its light 
to the day, and the soft silvery moon 
shone to give light by night as did also 
the stars without number, glimmering 
forth their twinkling light. So the fourth 
day went by. 

Next, God spoke and said : " Let the 
waters bring forth fish, and the air 
Tinged birds," and so it came to pass on 
the fifth day. 

On the sixth day, God said : " Let the 
earth bring forth living creatures of all 
kinds," and it was so; woods and fields 
were all alive with cattle and wild beasts; 
the grass, and flowers, and bushes were 
covered with gay butterflies, winged in- 
sects, and creeping things of all sorts. He 
also said : " Let us make man to our 
[3] 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM 

image and likeness, and let him have 
dominion over the fishes of the sea, the 
birds of the air, the beasts of the field, 
and over the whole earth." And so man 
was made bearing in his soul God's im- 
age, and having under God authority 
over all things around him. 

" And God saw all the things that He 
had made, and they were very good." 

So Almighty God made heaven and 
earth in six days, and He rested on the 
seventh day from all His work, and set 
apart this day for man, to be given to a 
holy rest and to joyful thanksgiving for 
the blessing of His creation. 



[4] 



PARADISE AND THE FALL 



2. Paradise and the Fall. 

(Genesis ii. 4-iii. 24.) 

The first man to tread the earth and 
admire the heavens was Adam. The 
Lord God made his body out of the soft 
moist earth and breathed into his face 
the breath of life. He then placed Adam 
in the lovely garden of Paradise. The 
garden had many beautiful trees which 
bore the sweetest fruit. One of them 
was called the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil. And God said to Adam: 
" Of all the trees in the garden thou 
mayest eat freely; but of the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil thou mayest 
not eat, for in the day that thou eatest 
of it thou shalt die." The garden had 
also a great variety of animals. God 
brought them one by one into the pres- 
[5] 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM 

ence of Adam, and to each of them Adam 
gave its own particular name. But none 
of them was fitted to be Adam's com- 
panion. And God said : " It is not good 
for man to be alone; let us make him a 
helper, like to himself." He then made 
the first woman, Eve, out of the side of 
Adam whom he cast into deep sleep, and 
brought her to Adam. When Adam 
awoke out of his sleep, he saw for the 
first time his beautiful companion, and 
joyfully took her to wife. 

One day when Eve was near the for- 
bidden tree Satan used a serpent in 
tempting her to disobey God's command. 
The serpent slyly asked her : " Why hath 
God commanded you that you should not 
eat of every tree of Paradise? " He next 
boldly said to Eve that neither she nor 
Adam would die were they to eat of the 
fruit of the tree which was in the midst 
of Paradise. " God knows very well," 
[6] 



PARADISE AND THE FALL 

he added, " that when you eat of it your 
eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as 
gods, knowing good and evil. ,, Eve then 
began to hesitate : the fruit seemed to her 
to be particularly beautiful, and very 
good to eat. At length, she ate of it, and 
gave some to Adam, who in like manner 
ate of it. 

The eyes of Adam and Eve were, in- 
deed, opened, but it was to their shame 
and confusion. Now afraid to be met 
by God, they tried to hide themselves in 
the trees of the garden. God found them 
out and punished them for their sin of 
disobedience: both Adam and Eve were 
now doomed to die, Adam after laboring 
hard to till the earth, Eve after having 
had many sorrows with her children and 
having led a life of dependence on her 
husband. He also punished the tempting 
serpent, the cause of their Fall, and de- 
clared that in the conflict that would ex- 
[7] 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM 

ist between his seed and the seed of the 
woman, the latter should crush the ser- 
pent's head, a victory won by Christ, the 
Redeemer of the human race. " For this 
purpose, the Son of God appeared, that 
he might destroy the works of the devil." 
God then sent Adam and Eve out of 
Paradise, the blessed home they no 
longer deserved. They and their chil- 
dren must now bear the evil conse- 
quences of original sin. 




Babylonian Memorial of the Fall. 
{Cylinder in British Museum) 



[8] 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM 



3. Cain, Abel and Seth. 

(Genesis iv.-v.) 

The first children of Adam and Eve 
were Cain and Abel. The two brothers 
grew up side by side. Both gave them- 
selves to useful work, Cain tilling the 
ground, and Abel keeping the sheep. 
Both also offered gifts to God, Cain pre- 
senting to the Lord the first-fruits of the 
field, and Abel the firstlings of the flock. 
It so happened, however, that Almighty 
God showed more favor to the offerings 
of Abel than to those of his brother. 
Cain was very angry at this; jealousy 
grew upon him; and at length he made 
Up his mind that he would murder Abel 
as soon as possible. Then it was that 
God reproved Cain gently, telling him 
that if he did well, like his brother Abel, 
he would also get a reward. But Cain 
[9] 



CAIN, ABEL AND SETH 

did not heed this warning. One day he 
took Abel into the field, rose up against 
his brother and slew him. 

God alone had seen the murderer's 
deed. " And the Lord said to Cain : 
Where is your brother Abel? A Ad he 
answered. I know not; am I my 
brother's keeper? " Thereupon, God 
sentenced Cain to a lifelong exile from 
his early home, and branded him as a 
criminal whom everyone should let live 
that he might bear his guilt. So Cain 
went out from the face of the Lord, and 
dwelt in the land of Nod, at the east side 
of Eden. There he busied himself in 
building a city to which he gave the name 
of his son. After his example, his chil- 
dren devoted their efforts to the affairs 
and interests of this life. They soon in- 
vented the art of making tents, took good 
care of cattle, played the harp and the 
flute, and worked brass and iron. They 
[10] 



CAIX, ABEL AXD SETH 

were a sensual, violent, and godless sort 
of people. 

Meantime God had seen to it that bet- 
ter men than those born from Cain 
should exist on earth; for after He had 
doomed Cain to live as an outcast, He 
had blessed Adam and Eve with a third 
son. This was Seth who filled the place 
of the innocent Abel in the eyes of his 
parents, as he did in the plans of God 
for the salvation of man. While Cain 
and his children minded only the things 
of earth, Seth gave the example of a life 
in which God's worship had the chief 
part. Whilst Lamech, who belonged to 
Cain's family, took two wives and sung 
the " Son of the Sword," Henoch, as a 
worthy son of Seth, " walked with God " 
like a child w T ith his father. In course of 
time, it is true, the children of Seth min- 
gled with those of Cain and became 
wicked like them. But, even then, the 

[11] 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM 

children of Seth counted among them the 
just Noe and his family by means of 
whom God saved mankind from utter 
destruction. 



[12] 



FLOOD AND THE TOWER OF BABEL 



4. The Flood and the Tower of Babel. 

(Genesis vi.-xi.) 

When Noe was five hundred years old 
he had three sons Sem, Cham and 
Japheth. He was a good and pious man, 
fearing and loving God. But all men 
around him did not heed God and His 
holy will; they led evil lives, and filled 
the earth with their sins. At the sight 
of such wickedness, God repented that 
He had made man on the earth, and He 
said: "I will destroy man, whom I 
have created, from the face of the earth, 
from man even to beasts, from the creep- 
ing things even to the fowls of the air, for 
it repenteth Me that I have made them." 
Noe alone found grace before the Lord. 
According to God's command, he built a 
big ark of timber planks, and shut him- 
[13] 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM 

self in it with his wife, his three sons and 
their wives, and a pair of each kind of 
animals. 

In the six hundredth year of the life of 
Noe, the Flood came. The j*ain fell upon 
the earth forty days and forty nights. 
The waters increased and lifted up the 
ark on high from the earth. The whole 
earth was under water, even the highest 
mountains, and all men and animals 
perished; none were saved but those that 
w r ere in the ark. At length, the rain 
ceased; the waters went down little by 
little, and the ark rested upon the moun- 
tains of Armenia. When the ground was 
dry enough, and at God's bidding, Noe, 
his family, and all living things with him 
went out of the ark. Noe's first care was 
to build an altar unto the Lord and to 
offer Him a sacrifice in thanksgiving. 
Then God established His covenant with 
Noe, and gave him the beautiful rainbow 
[14] 



FLOOD AND THE TOWER OF BABEL 

as a token that man and every living 
thing should never again be destroyed by 
a flood. 

Through God's blessing, the children 
of the three sons of Noe soon became 
very numerous. At first they dwelt in 
the large plain of Sennaar, and spoke but 
one and the same language. But as time 
went on, they found that the place in 
which they were, was altogether too 
small. So they resolved to scatter abroad 
into all lands. Before parting, however, 
they undertook to build a great city, and 
in it to erect a tower the top of which 
would reach to heaven. They thus wished 
to make their name famous for ages to 
come. Their pride greatly displeased 
Almighty God Who, by a stroke of His 
power confounded their language while 
they were at work. As they could no 
longer understand one another's speech, 
they gave up the building of the city and 
[15] 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM 

its tower. The name of the place was 
called Babel, that is, Confusion. " And 
from thence the Lord scattered them 
abroad upon the face of all countries." 



[16] 




[17] 



II. FROM ABRAHAM TO MOSES. 

(1996-1571 B.C.) 

# 1. Abraham. Birth and Youth of 
Isaac. 

(Genesis xii.-xxv. 18.) 

After settling in the various parts of 
the world, the children of Noe forsook 
more and more the service of God. The 
peoples who grew out of them, gave 
themselves up to the worship of idols 
such as the sun, moon and stars, ani- 
mals, etc., and became very wicked. Out 
of the few holy men still found among 
them, it pleased God to choose Abraham 
as the great patriarch in whose seed all 
the nations of the earth should be 
blessed. According to God's command, 
Abraham left his native home and coun- 
[18] 



ABRAHAM AND ISAAC 

try, taking with him Sara his wife, and 
Lot his nephew, and after a long journey 
came into the land of Chanaan. And 
the Lord appeared to Abraham and said 
to him: "To thy seed will I give this 
land." And he built there an altar to 
the Lord Who had appeared to him. God 
w r as w r ell pleased with Abraham's liv- 
ing faith and ever-ready obedience. He 
protected him on all occasions, and 
show r ered down His blessings upon him. 
He entered into a solemn covenant with 
him, that from him should come a 
numerous people, w r ho would possess the 
promised land, and that from his seed 
blessing and grace should flow over the 
whole earth; and for a mark of this 
covenant, He enjoined upon him and his 
children the rite of circumcision. He 
dealt with him as wdth a friend when 
He told him w r hat He w 7 as about to do to 
the very wicked cities of Sodom and 
[19] 



ABRAHAM TO MOSES 

Gomorrha, next listened to Abraham's 
earnest and childlike prayers in behalf 
of the inhabitants, and then provided for 
the rescue of Lot and his family from 
the fire that destroyed those guilty cities; 
Lot's wife was the only one who perished, 
for she turned back to look upon the fire, 
and was changed into a pillar of salt. 

Meanwhile, it was a sore trial for 
Abraham that the child whom God had 
promised to Sara was not yet born, and 
apparently would never be born, because 
both he and Sara had now become very 
old. But at length, by a miracle of God, 
Sara gave birth to Isaac. Abraham cir- 
cumcised the child on the eighth day af- 
ter his birth, and was again told by God 
that Isaac would be the father of the true 
children of Abraham. 

After Isaac had grown up, God put 
Abraham's faith and obedience to a very 
hard test. He bade him to offer this dear 
[20] 



ABRAHAM AND ISAAC 

son in sacrifice. Abraham obeyed at 
once. He took Isaac to the place of sacri- 
fice, bound him and laid him on the 
altar, and raised his hand to slay him 
with his sword. But at this moment, the 
angel of the Lord stayed his arm, praised 
his obedience, and renewed all the prom- 
ises made to him. 

Isaac was afterwards married to Re- 
becca, the mother of Esau and Jacob. 
Abraham died in the good old age of a 
hundred and seventy-five years, and was 
gathered to his people. 



[21] 



ABRAHAM TO MOSES 



2. Isaac and Jacob. 

(Genesis xxv. 19-xxxvi.) 

God bestowed on Isaac the special 
favor which He had shown to Abraham 
his father. Twice He appeared to him 
and each time renewed the great prom- 
ises He had made to Abraham. He 
blessed him with droves of sheep and cat- 
tle and with many servants, and He pro- 
tected him against the ill-will of jealous 
neighbors. In return, Isaac " walked 
with God," moving about in the pres- 
ence of God and doing what he knew to 
be pleasing in His sight. Of his twin 
sons, Esau and Jacob, he, indeed, liked 
Esau better, and meant to give him the 
blessing due to the first-born, even after 
Esau had sold heedlessly to Jacob his 
right to such blessing for a dish of red 
[22] 



ISAAC AND JACOB 

pottage. But when he recognized God's 
will in his mistake in having given to 
Jacob the first-born's blessing, he at 
once regarded him as the sole heir of 
the divine promises. Henceforth, the 
wish of his heart was that Jacob should 
not become unworthy of those promises 
by marrying one of the daughters of 
Chanaan. He therefore called him, and 
said to him: " Go, and take a journey to 
Mesopotamia of Syria, to the house of 
Bathuel, thy mother's father, and take 
thee a wife thence of the daughters of 
Laban thy uncle." 

Jacob then started on his long jour- 
ney. In one place, he was favored by a 
wonderful vision : he saw a ladder stand- 
ing upon the earth, the top of which 
reached to heaven; the angels of God 
ascended and descended by it; the Lord 
Himself leaning upon the top of it; made 
the same promises to him as He had 
[23] 



ABRAHAM TO MOSES 

made to Abraham. As he came near his 
journey's end, he met his cousin Rachel 
at the well where she had gone to water 
the flocks of her father Laban; he made 
himself known to her; and soon after- 
wards was welcomed by Laban himself. 
Laban was a crafty Syrian as Jacob 
soon found out. Instead of giving Rachel 
at once to him as wife, he required Jacob 
to labor for her seven years after which 
he adroitly passed over Lia to him, and 
then gave him Rachel under the con- 
dition of seven years more of service. 
Having served also these seven years, 
Jacob said to Laban : " Send me away 
to my country. Give me my wives, and 
my children, for whom I have served 
thee, that I may depart." Even then, 
Laban detained Jacob for certain wages 
which he changed time and again to his 
own favor. At length, and at God's bid- 
ding, Jacob took to flight together with 
[24] 



ISAAC AND JACOB 

his family and all that he possessed. 
Laban soon overtook him, and only after 
much abuse let Jacob keep on his home- 
ward journey. 

As Jacob went along, God was, in- 
deed, with him. Through God's mercy 
Esau met him and showed himself 
friendly to him. On several occasions 
God favored him with visions, in one of 
which He changed the name of Jacob 
into that of Israel, and renewed the great 
promises He had made to Abraham. 
Jacob finally came to Isaac his father in 
Mambre. " And the days of Isaac w r ere 
a hundred and eighty years; and his sons 
Esau and Jacob buried him." 



[25] 



ABRAHAM TO MOSES 



3. Joseph and His Brothers. 

(Genesis xxxvii.-l.) 

Of the twelve sons of Jacob, Joseph 
was the dearest to the old father. His 
brothers knew it, hence they hated and 
envied Joseph. One day, as they were 
tending their flocks far from home, they 
seized him, sold him to merchants pass- 
ing by, and deceived Jacob with the story 
that a beast had devoured him. The mer- 
chants carried Joseph into Egypt, and 
sold him to Putiphar, one of the king's 
officers. But the Lord was with him, and 
he soon became the trusted and success- 
ful overseer of his master's house. In 
the course of time, however, Putiphar's 
wife brought a false charge against Jo- 
seph, and he was cast into prison. Here 
also, God was with him, and enabled him 
[26]' 



JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS 

to give the meaning of the dreams of two 
officers who were fellow-prisoners of 
Joseph. After two years, the king him- 
self had dreams which Joseph alone was 
found able to explain. The dreams 
meant that seven years of great plenty 
would be followed by seven years of the 
worst famine, and so it now behoved the 
king to appoint over the whole land of 
Egypt a ruler who would lay up the 
corn of the seven plentiful years over 
against the famine of the seven years. 
By this king's order, Joseph became this 
ruler. The seven years of plenty came, 
and he gathered together all the wheat 
into the barns of Egypt. The seven years 
of scarcity began, " and the famine pre- 
vailed in the whole world, but there was 
bread in all the land of Egypt." 

Driven by famine, the sons of Jacob, 
with the exception of Benjamin, went 
down into Egypt to buy corn, Joseph 
[27] 



ABRAHAM TO MOSES 

recognized them and pretended to regard 
them as spies. As they spoke of their 
youngest brother who was kept at home 
by their aged father, he told them that in 
order to test the truth of their words, he 
would keep one of them in prison, until 
they would bring to him this youngest 
brother. He therefore caused Simeon, 
one of them, to be bound in their pres- 
ence, and then sent the others away, their 
sacks filled with wheat. 

At their second coming, they had Ben- 
jamin with them. Joseph received them 
well, asked about the health of their 
father, and was greatly moved at the 
sight of his youngest brother. At length, 
he made himself known to them, say- 
ing : " I am Joseph, your brother, whom 
you sold into Egypt; be not afraid!" He 
then told them to hasten to their father, 
to let him know that his son was still 
alive, and to bring him down into Egypt. 
[28] 



JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS 

Jacob accordingly removed with all his 
family into Egypt, and Joseph gave them 
the fertile land of Gessen. 

After his father's death and burial, Jo- 
seph continued to rule over Egypt until 
his own death. " And he died being a 
hundred and ten years old. And being 
embalmed he w r as laid in a coffin in 
Egypt." 



[29] 



III. FROM MOSES TO SOLOMON. 

(1571-1015 B.C.) 

1. Moses Delivers Israel. 

(Exodus i.-xv. 21.) 

Until the death of Joseph, and for a 
while afterwards, the children of Jacob 
or Israelites became very numerous in 
the land of Egypt. But the time came 
when there arose a new king over Egypt, 
who had not known Joseph. Fearing 
the Israelites would grow too powerful, 
he oppressed them with hard labor and 
a most cruel sjavery and finally ordered 
his people to drown in the river Nile 
all the male children who would be born 
of Israel. Contrary to this order, a wom- 
an of the tribe of Levi hid her lovely babe 
for three months; then seeing she could 
[30] 



MOSES DELIVERS ISRAEL 

conceal him no longer, she took a basket 
made of bulrushes, put him therein, and 
laid him in the sedges by the river's 
brink. The king's daughter, walking 
by the side of the river, spied the basket; 
she opened it, and took pity on the cry- 
ing Hebrew babe. She adopted the child 
for her son, called him Moses, that is, 
" drawn out of the water," and had him 
taught all the learning of the Egyptians. 
Moses was already forty years of age, 
when one day he saw an Egyptian strik- 
ing one of the Hebrews his brethren; he 
slew him and fled into the desert of Sinai. 
His exile there lasted forty years. 

After the king's death God appeared 
to Moses in a burning bush, and ordered 
him back to Egypt to deliver his people 
from slavery. Moses and his brother 
Aaron returned at once to Egypt. They 
presented themselves before the new 
king, and asked for the Hebrews per- 
[31] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 

mission to go and sacrifice in the Desert. 
The King flatly refused. Then at God's 
bidding, Moses and Aaron punished the 
country with nine scourges known as the 
Plagues of Egypt. More than once, the 
king touched with regret or fear begged 
the two brothers to obtain from God the 
end of these scourges; but no sooner 
had the plague ceased, than the hardness 
of his heart returned. He finally yielded 
to the tenth plague; for at midnight, the 
Lord slew every first-born of Egypt 
" from the first-born of Pharao, who sat 
on his throne, unto the first-born of the 
captive woman that was in the prison, 
and all .the first-born of cattle," and so 
the king and his subjects pressed the 
Israelites to be gone. 

God Himself had taken care that all 

the children of .Israel should be ready for 

this hasty departure. He had ordered 

that on the evening before, every Hebrew 

[32] 



MOSES DELIVERS ISRAEL 

family should eat the Paschal lamb, .with 
their loins girt, and staves in their hands. 
When they set out under Moses as their 
leader, they formed a vast host of six 
hundred thousand men, without count- 
ing women and children. Their march 
was therefore very slow; and the king 
now sorry that he had let them go, over- 
took them with his army, on the shore 
of the Red Sea. It was then that God 
made the waters of the sea to part so as 
to allow Israel safely to cross on dry 
ground, and that He caused the water to 
return just in time to drown the whole 
Egyptian army. Whereupon Moses and 
his freed people sang a hymn of praise 
and thanks to the Lord. 



[33] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 



2. Moses Gives the Law to Israel. 

(Exodus xv. 22-Leviticus xxvii.) 

After crossing the Red Sea, the 
Hebrews led by Moses made for Mount 
Sinai. Time and again, they were sorely 
tried on the way. The first water they 
met after a march of three days was so 
bitter that they could not drink it. Next, 
they suffered from want of food. A 
while later, they had no water to drink. 
And when they were near their journey's 
end, a strong tribe of the desert known 
as Amalecites came and fought against 
them. On such occasions, they loudly 
complained against God and against 
Moses, regretting they had ever left 
Egypt. But God was very patient and 
merciful to them: He made the bitter 
waters sweet; He sent His people a flight 
[34] 



MOSES GIVES THE LAW TO ISRAEL 

of quails, and gave them every day a 
supply of manna; He drew for them 
water out of a rock and He defeated the 
Amalecites by the hand of Josue. At 
length, on the third month after they had 



Group of Mt. Sinai. 

left Egypt, the Israelites came to Mount 
Sinai. 

This was the place God had chosen to 

[35] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 

give His law to Israel. Calling Moses up 
to the mount, He bade him tell the chil- 
dren of Israel : " If you hear My voice, 
and keep My covenant, you shall be My 
peculiar possession above all people: for 
all the earth is Mine. And you shall be 
to Me a priestly Kingdom and a holy Na- 
tion." When this was told by Moses " all 
the people answered together: All that 
the Lord hath spoken, we will do." Three 
days later, peals of thunder were heard 
on the mountain top, and lightning 
flashed on every side; presently all Mount 
Sinai was afire, and from the midst of 
the fire God delivered with a loud voice 
the Ten Commandments. Struck with 
fear and terror, the people stood afar off 
and said to Moses : " Speak thou to us, 
and we will hear : let not the Lord speak 
to us, lest we die." Moses then went 
alone into the dark cloud wherein God 
was. There, he was told what God re- 
[36] 



MOSES GIVES THE LAW TO ISRAEL 

quired from Israel in making the cove- 
nant with them. He next came down, 
wrote all the words of the Lord in the 
book of the covenant, read them aloud to 
the people, and after the people promised 
to obey them all, he sealed the covenant 
between God and Israel, with the blood 
of victims. 

Having thus bound Israel to God's wor- 
ship, Moses went up again into the 
mount. During the forty days and forty 
night he was there, the Lord gave him 
many directions for the building of the 
Tabernacle, the making of the altars, the 
priestly vestments and the anointing of 
Aaron and his sons, the sacrifices to be 
offered; etc. Meanwhile, the people see- 
ing that Moses stayed a long time in the 
mountain, gave way to a form of idolatry 
which they had witnessed when in 
Egypt : they made to themselves a golden 
calf, and worshipped it. At this mo- 
[37] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 

ment, Moses came down carrying in his 
hands the two stone tables of the Law, 
written with the finger of God, and being 
very angry at the sight of Israel's 
idolatry, he threw the tables out of his 
hand and broke them at the foot of the 
mount. Then he destroyed the golden 




The Sacrep Egyptian Bull, Apis. 

calf, and caused many of the idolaters 
to be slain. 

The covenant was now broken. But 

[38] 



MOSES GIVES THE LAW TO ISRAEL 

God, at Moses* earnest prayer, renewed 
it with Israel. The Tabernacle, the Ark 
of the covenant, the altars, and the holy 
vestments were next made. The Taber- 
nacle itself was finally set up, and the 
Lord filled it with His majesty. And 
it was from this His dwelling-place 
among the chosen people, that God gave 
to Moses the other laws needed by Israel. 



[39] 




mM/mf^Mfr^Mmm®. 






1. The Ark of the Covenant (According to Cram, 
pon, Fillion, etc.). 

2. The Altar of Holocausts. 

3. The A^ar of Incense. 

4. The Seven-branched Candlestick. 

[40] 



MOSES LEADS ISRAEL 



3. Moses Leads Israel to the Border 
of Chanaan. 

(Numbers-Deuteronomy. ) 

When the time came near for the 
Israelites to leave Sinai, Moses, warned 
by God, made sure that they would de- 
part in good order. He numbered the 
whole people, gave to the Levites the 
special charge of the Tabernacle, 
assigned to each tribe its place in camp 
and on the march, and let all know the 
signals they were to obey. Above the 
Tabernacle hung a cloud of smoke by 
day, and a cloud of fire by night. When 
the Israelites were to move onward, the 
cloud would rise and go before them; and 
when they were to pitch their tents the 
cloud would rest. 

In the second month of the second 
[41] 




[42] 



MOSES LEADS ISRAEL 

year after the going out of Egypt, the 
cloud rose above the Tabernacle, and so 
the children of Israel started towards 
Chanaan. The road lay northward 
across the Desert, and the journey soon 
became trying to all, especially to Moses, 
their great leader. Their very first 
march of three days w r as not yet over, 
when many, repining at their fatigue, 
murmured against God. At their sec- 
ond halt, they turned into a mob regret- 
ting Egypt; they lusted for flesh, and 
loathed manna. The next stop was 
marked by a denial of Moses' right to 
leadership, on the part of his own sister 
and brother, Mary and Aaron. When 
Israel came almost in sight of Chanaan, 
Moses, at God's bidding, sent twelve men 
to view the whole country, and bring 
back an account of it. At their return, 
they brought a huge cluster of grapes, and 
other fruits of the land, as a token of 
[43] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 

its fertility. But then, with the excep- 
tion of Josue and Caleb, they told the peo- 
ple to give up all hope of conquering 
Chanaan: its cities were walled and 
very great, and its inhabitants were 
giants in comparison with whom they 
themselves were as grasshoppers. Hear- 
ing this, all the children of Israel rebelled 
against Moses and Aaron; they regretted 
they had ever left Egypt, spoke of ap- 
pointing a leader to bring them back 
thither, and as Josue and Caleb tried to 
calm them, they were about to stone them 
when the glory of the Lord appeared over 
the Tabernacle. God then doomed the 
whole multitude to wander in the Desert 
forty years, and the men of twenty years 
of age and upward to die in it, with the 
exception of Josue and Caleb. 

New trials soon befell Moses. His 
authority as a leader was objected to by a 
large and strong party the head of which 
[44] 



MOSES LEADS ISRAEL 

was Core, a man of Moses' own tribe. The 
earth opened, indeed, its mouth and swal- 
lowed all these rebels; but the very next 
day the people's ill-feeling burst forth 
anew against Moses. A while later, 
Mary, Moses' sister, died and was buried 
in the Desert. This was soon followed 
by a general murmur of Israel for want 
of water; and as on this occasion, Moses 
struck twice the rock to obtain water 
instead of simply bidding it to yield forth 
water, he was told by God that he would 
not be permitted to bring the Israelites 
into the Promised Land. Next, there oc- 
curred Aaron's death and burial at Mount 
Hor. As the wearied people complained 
once more against God and Moses, they 
were punished by fiery serpents whose 
biting could be healed only by looking 
upon the Brazen Serpent lifted up by 
Moses at God's order. 

The last days of Moses were crowded 
[45] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 

with great events. Under his guidance, 
the vast territory east of the Jordan River 
was quickly taken from powerful kings, 
and given to the tribes of Ruben, Gad, 
and half of the tribe of Manasses. The 
prophet Balaam foretold the glories that 
awaited Israel. Moses himself, having 
completed his laws for the Chosen Peo- 
ple and appointed Josue as his successor 
in command, exhorted at length all the 
tribes to be faithful to God, and imparted 
to them his last blessing. Finally he 
ascended Mount Nebo from the top of 
which he beheld Chanaan on the other 
side of Jordan, and died there at the age 
of one hundred and twenty years. " And 
no man hath known of his sepulchre un- 
til this present day." 



[46] 



JOSUE CONQUERS CHAN A AN 



4. Josue Conquers Chanaan. 

(Josue i.-xxiv.) 

As God had been with Moses, so was 
He also with Josue, Moses' successor. He 
said to him : " Take courage and be 
strong. Fear not and be not dismayed: 
because the Lord thy God is with thee 
whithersoever thou goest." Thus en- 
couraged, Josue bade the people to make 
ready to cross the Jordan River. Mean- 
time, he sent over two scouts to the 
strong city of Jericho where a woman, 
named Rahab, welcomed and concealed 
them. After their return, the people 
broke camp, and followed at a distance 
the priests who carried the Ark of the 
Lord up to the river. The Jordan was 
then swollen into a deep muddy stream. 
But as soon as the feet of the priests who 
[47] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 

bore the Ark, touched the swirling 
waters, the supply from above was by 
miracle cut off, and stayed so until the 
advancing hosts of Israel had passed over 
on dry ground. Thence Josue moved 
against Jericho the lofty walls of which 
fell down likewise by miracle at the 
sound of Israel's trumpets. The city was 
razed to the ground, and none of its in- 
habitants were spared, except the house- 
hold of Rahab who had hid Josue's spies. 
The town next taken was Hai in the hill- 
country of Chanaan. 

At the news of this speedy and vic- 
torious march of Josue, the kings ot the 
Chanaanites purposed to form a league 
and to fight Israel. But instead of join- 
ing the league, the inhabitants of Gabaon 
and its dependent towns sent envoys to 
Josue to make a separate peace with him. 
The envoys falsely claimed that they had 
come from a very far country, they 
[48] 



JOSUE CONQUERS CHANAAN 

pointed to their tattered garments and 
showed their dry provisions as a token of 
the truth of their words; and so they de- 
ceived Josue who at once entered into 
a league with them. Hearing of this, five 
kings of Southern Chanaan, whose terri- 
tories were nearest Gabaon, took instant 
action against that city. The Gabaonites 
appealed for help to Josue. After a 
forced march by night, the Hebrew leader 
swooped upon the kings in the early 
morning, routed them and lest he should 
not have time to complete his victory, 
he bade the sun and moon to stand still, 
as, indeed, it came to pass. The five 
kings were captured and put to death; 
and soon afterwards Josue took by storm 
the chief cities of Southern Chanaan. 

Northern Chanaan had yet to be con- 
quered. Its allied kings gathered their 
large armies together, and pitched their 
camp at the waters of Merom, to fight 
[49] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 

against Israel. Josue fell suddenly upon 
them; and the Lord delivered them 
into his hands. In truth, whither- 
soever he went, God was with him, so 
that some time before his death he was 
able to allot the country west of Jordan 
to nine and a half tribes of Israel. The 
southernmost part of it became the lot 
of the tribes of Simeon and Juda. North 
of them, were Benjamin, Dan, Ephraim, 
and half of the tribe of Manasses, in Cen- 
tral Chanaan. The northernmost tribes 
were those of Issachar, Zabulon, Nephtali 
and Aser. As God had ordered that the 
tribe of Levi should not have a lot of its 
own, its families were distributed in 
forty-eight different cities, and their up- 
keep was provided for by the tithe- 
offerings of all Israel. 

Aware that his end was near, Josue 
warned the people against mingling with 
the surviving inhabitants of Chanaan, 
[50] 



JOSUE CONQUERS CHANAAN 

and renewed the covenant between God 
and Israel. This great " servant of the 
Lord died, being a hundred and ten years 
old." He was buried in his own in- 
heritance. His tomb, a vast excavation 
in the rock, has been recently discovered. 



[51 j 




[52] 



THE GREATER JUDGES OF ISRAEL 



5. The Greater Judges of Israel. 

(Judges i.-xvi.; Ruth.) 

The children served the Lord for a 
while after Josue's death. There were 
yet among them men who had seen God's 
wonderful works in conquering Chanaan 
for His people. But, after all these men 
were dead and gone, the Israelites wor- 
shipped more and more the idols of the 
Chanaanites who were still in the land. 
To punish His sinful children, God gave 
them up time and again to the power of 
enemies, by whom they were enslaved 
and oppressed in many ways. Each 
time, however, that they repented and 
cried to Him for mercy, He rescued them 
out of the hands of their enemies, by 
means of great deliverers who are known 
as the Judges of Israel. 
[53] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 

Among these Judges were Debbora, 
a prophetess, and Barac, a valiant man of 
Nephtali. During twenty years, the chil- 
dren had been oppressed for their sins 
by a powerful king named Jabin and 
Sisara his general. But now they were 
sorry for their evil deeds, and begged 
God's mercy. Moved by the Spirit of the 
Lord, Debbora told Barac that he should 
arise and fight against Israel's enemies, 
fully sure that God would give him vic- 
tory. At Barac's request, Debbora went 
with him and with the men he hastily 
gathered. When the two armies met, 
God struck Sisara with such terror that he 
leaped down off his chariot and fled away 
on foot. Sisara's men likewise panic- 
stricken took to flight. Barac's victory 
was complete, and Debbora sang it in 
an inspired hymn of thanks to God. 

The next time the Israelites forsook 
the Lord, they were for seven years un- 
[54] 



THE GREATER JUDGES OF ISRAEL 

der the power of the Madianites and of 
other cruel oppressors. When at length 
they cried to the Lord, Gedeon was called 
to deliver them. At Gedeon's rousing 
appeal, over two hundred thousand war- 
riors gathered around him. Out of this 
vast host, however, God allowed only 
three hundred men to fight for Israel, 
and, indeed, with no other weapons than 
trumpets, and lamps burning in pitchers. 
At midnight, these three hundred men 
rushed into Madian's camp sounding 
their trumpets and breaking their 
earthen pitchers. Terror from the Lord 
struck the Madianites; they began to 
flee, and in their great haste and con- 
fusion they even killed one another. Thus 
God alone had rescued Israel, and hence 
when the people would have made 
Gedeon their king, the hero rightly said 
that the Lord alone should rule over 
them. 

[55] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 

It was also to God's power that at a later 
date, Jephte, one of Israel's Judges, re- 
ferred his victory over the Ammonites 
who had oppressed his people eighteen 
years. Before fighting against these ene- 
mies, he had made a vow to the Lord that 
if He gave him victory over the children 
of Ammon, he would offer as "a holocaust 
to the Lord " the first one that would 
greet him at his return home. He de- 
feated the Ammonites, and even though 
the first one of his household to greet 
him at his return was his only daughter, 
he regarded himself as bound to fulfil 
his vow. 

The last extraordinary Judge of Israel 
was Samson, a man consecrated to God 
from his birth so that no razor should 
ever touch his hair. The Spirit of the 
Lord wrought by him many wonders, 
and enabled him to hold in check, as 
long as he lived, the power of the Philis- 
[56] 



THE GREATER JUDGES OF ISRAEL 

tines who had oppressed Israel forty 
years. Samson died a hero's death: 
shorn of his locks through treason, and 
deprived of his sight by his enemies, he 
asked from the Lord a sudden return of 
his former strength, and then while thou- 
sands of the Philistines, gathered in one 
of their temples, rejoiced at his misfor- 
tune he shook the pillars inside that 
temple and perished " killing many more 
at his death, than he had killed before in 
his life." 

The story of Ruth's strong attachment 
to Noemi, her forlorn mother-in-law, and 
of her later marriage to Booz, a rich kins- 
man of Noemi's former husband, af- 
fords a glimpse of the domestic life dur- 
ing the time of the Judges. 



[57] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 
6. Samuel and Saul. 

(1 Kings i.-xxxi.) 

After Samson's death, the difficult task 
of leading Israel's fight against the 
Philistines, passed to Heli, the high priest 
of the time. A feeble old man, Heli was 
not equal to the task, his two unworthy 
sons, Ophni and Phinees, were slain in 
a great battle wherein the Ark of the 
Lord fell into the hands of the Philis- 
tines, and Heli himself died at the news 
of this disaster. 

Meantime, God had prepared in Sam- 
ual a younger and better leader for His 
people. He had granted his birth to the 
earnest prayers of Anna his mother, 
watched over his earliest years in the 
service of the sanctuary at Silo, and grad- 
ually made him known to Israel as " a 
faithful prophet of the Lord." When 
therefore " Samuel spoke to all the house 
[58] 



SAMUEL AND SAUL 

of Israel, saying: Prepare your hearts 
unto the Lord, and serve Him only, and 
He will deliver you out of the hand of the 
Philistines," the whole people obeyed 
his words. Soon afterwards, the Philis- 
tines went up against Israel; but with 
God's powerful help, the Israelites routed 
their enemies and made a great slaughter 
of them. From that moment forth, and 
for many years, Samuel ruled with great 
success over the Chosen People. As he 
grew old, however, he appointed his two 
sons as judges in Israel. These men did 
not walk in the footsteps of their father; 
they took bribes, and perverted judg- 
ment. Hence, the people complained to 
Samuel and asked him for a king to 
judge them, as all other nations had their 
kings. " And the Lord said to Samuel : 
Hearken to their voice, and make them a 
king." Israel's first king was Saul a tall 
and handsome man of the tribe of Ben- 
[59] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 

jamin. Raised to the throne by God's 
will, his plain duty was to do God's bid- 
ding which was made known to him 
through Samuel, the aged prophet of the 
Lord. It was not long, however, before 
Saul went against the strict orders of 
God, the supreme King of Israel. The 
first time he fought against the Philis- 
tines, he offered sacrifice on behalf of his 
men without waiting, as he should have 
done until Samuel came. Swift was 
Samuel's reproof of Saul's wilful dis- 
obedience. In the name of the Lord, the 
prophet told him that none of his fam- 
ily would reign after him. Saul said 
nothing to this, but his heart was not 
changed. In course of time, after God 
had given Saul many victories over his 
enemies, Samuel said to him : " Hearken 
to the voice of the Lord. Go and smite 
Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he 
hath: spare him not, nor covet anything 
[60] 



SAMUEL AND SAUL 

that is his." Upon this command, Saul 
fought against the Amalecites, and de- 
feated them. But instead of doing as he 
was bidden, he spared Agag the king of 
Amalec and the best of the flocks of 
sheep and of the herds, and the gar- 
ments, and all that was beautiful; and 
then on meeting Samuel, claimed that he 
had fulfilled the word of the Lord. The 
man who thus acted and spoke, was no 
fit king of Israel. God therefore rejected 
the king, and bade Samuel to go to 
Bethlehem and anoint one of Jesse's sons, 
as a successor to Saul. Samuel anointed 
David, Jesse's youngest son, and from 
that day " the spirit of the Lord departed 
from Saul, and an evil spirit from the 
Lord troubled him." 

The last part of Saul's life was most 

wretched. For a while he loved the 

young David who played the harp before 

him when the evil spirit troubled him. 

[61] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 

But soon he became jealous of David, and 
through hatred of him, long tried to kill 
him, but in vain, for the Lord was with 
David. At length, when sorely pressed 
by the Philistines, he fell into despair, 
and got the witch of Endor to call up for 
him Samuel who had died some time be- 
fore. On the day of battle, Saul's men 
fled before the Philistines, his three sons 
were slain, and Saul himself, grievously 
wounded, " took his sword, and fell upon 
it." 



[62] 



KING DAVID 



7. King David. 
(1055-1015 B.C.) 

(2 Kings-3 Kings ii. 11; 1 Paralipomenon xi.-xxix.) 

By the time of Saul's death, David was 
well fitted to rule over Israel. From a 
simple keeper of his father's sheep, he 
had grown into a skilled warrior, trusted 
and loved by his followers. Hunted up 
and down the land by the wrathful Saul, 
he had many a time nobly spared the life 
of that unhappy king. Driven from the 
country sacred to the true God, he had 
not swerved from his fealty to the Lord, 
and his long stay among the Philistines, 
was but a means to know better the very 
enemies against whom he would one day 
fight. Ever true to Saul, he lamented 
his death when he heard of it. Ever true 
[63] 







[64] 



KING DAVID 

to God, he went back to the land of Juda 
only after getting a favorable answer 
from the Lord. No w r onder then that as 
soon as he was seen in their midst again, 
the men of Juda, that is, of his own tribe, 
hailed him as king, and that after a few 
years of resistance, the men of the other 
tribes yielded to his authority. 

The early part of David's rule as king 
of all Israel, was most blessed by God. 
Jerusalem which he took from the 
Jebusites became his own capital; it 
became also the religious centre of all 
the tribes w 7 hen he removed to its oldest 
quarter, Mount Sion, the Ark of the Lord. 
His w r ars against the Philistines, Am- 
monites, Moabites, Edomites, Syrians, 
etc., were all successful and he extended 
far and w r ide the boundaries of his king- 
dom. His court was that of a wise and 
powerful monarch. Besides a body- 
guard, he had a regular army under one 
[65] 



MOSES TO SOLOMON 

commander-in-chief, Joab, his own 
nephew. He himself presided over 
judicial cases, and had around him a staff 
of prudent counselors and officers. The 
desire of his heart was to build a beau- 
tiful temple to the Lord, and although 
he was not allowed to carry it out, his 
good will was rewarded with the promise 
of great blessings in his seed: his son, 
Solomon, would build the Temple in Jeru- 
salem, and his far greater Son, Christ, 
would build the true Temple of God, to 
wit, the Church which shall never fail, 
nor be cast off for any iniquity of her 
children. Meantime, his zeal for God's 
glory shone forth in the good order he 
established among the priests and the 
levites who ministered in the Taber- 
nacle, and also in the beautiful psalms 
he wrote under divine inspiration. 

The latter part of David's reign opened 
with his dreadful fall into the sins of 
[66] 



KING DAVID 

adultery and murder, and was much 
darkened by the woes which befell both 
king and people, such as the rebellion of 
Absalom, David's son; the uprising of a 
man of Ephraim, named Seba; a drought 
and famine lasting three years; and a 
pestilence in punishment for counting 
the people. Even in the king's last days, 
when he was stricken with the infirmities 
of age, his son, Adonias, attempted to 
seize the royal succession to which David 
had appointed Solomon. The seven 
psalms of David, known as the Peniten- 
tial Psalms, bear special witness to the 
king's deep sorrow for the sins of his 
life. " So David slept with his fathers, 
and was buried in the city of David. And 
the days that David reigned in Israel 
were forty years." 



[67] 



IV. FROM SOLOMON TO THE CAP- 
TIVITY IN BABYLON. 

(1015-588 B.C.) 

1. The Reign of Solomon. 
(1015-975 B.C.) 

(3 Kings ii.l2-xi.; 2 Paralipomenon i.-ix.) 

Solomon's reign was the golden age of 
the Hebrew nation. It seemed to com- 
bine the riches and the glory of earlier 
and later times. Its glitter and magnifi- 
cence gladdened the hearts of all Israel, 
and dazzled the strangers of distant 
lands. The people enslaved of old in 
Egypt, had now a king wedded to the 
daughter of an Egyptian monarch. The 
once wandering tribes of the Desert now 
formed a mighty nation whose rule went 
[68] 



THE REIGN OF SOLOMON 

from the Great Sea and the River of 
Egypt on the West, to the Euphrates on 
the East. Solomon's early and pious 
desire for wisdom from above that he 
might govern well this vast realm, was 
most pleasing in the eyes of God: that 
wisdom was to be his, bringing in its 
train numerous other blessings which the 
youthful king had not asked. His un- 
equalled learning and sagacity soon be- 
came famous throughout the East. He 
carried out David's purpose by erecting 
in Jerusalem a most magnificent temple 
for the Lord. Near by, he built for him- 
self and his queen beautiful palaces. He 
also constructed great waterworks for 
his capital, and added to the strength of 
its walls. His court was that of a rich 
and powerful monarch: princes stood 
about his throne, and twelve officers sup- 
plied all that was needed for the up- 
keep of his table, his wives, his retinue, 
[69] 



SOLOMON TO THE CAPTIVITY 

his horses, etc. Refinement and litera- 
ture flourished in his day : Solomon him- 
self " spoke three thousand parables, and 
his poems were a thousand and five." 
New fortresses arose to secure the safety 
of Israel's borders and the remnant of 
the Chanaanites still within the realm, 
was thoroughly subdued. Commerce by 
land and by sea brought in the wealth 
and the produce of nations near and far. 
Peace and plenty prevailed throughout 
the land, " and Juda and Israel dwelt 
without any fear, every one under his 
vine and under his fig tree." Sovereigns 
came out of all nations to hear Solomon's 
wisdom and to behold him "in all his 
glory." 

Alas! the time came when this highly 
favored king of Israel trod not in the 
ways of the Lord. He had married a 
large number of heathen wives, and to 
please them " when he was now old " he 
[70] 



Plan of Solomon's Temple and Adjoining 
Buildings. 




1. The Great or Outer Court. 2. The Other or Middle 
Court. 3. The Upper Court or Court of the House 
of the Lord. 4. The House of the Forest of Li banus. 
5. Porch of Pillars. 6. The Porch of the Throne. 
7. The King's House. 8. The House of Pharao's 
Daughter. 9. The Temple. 10. The Altar of Holo- 
causts. 



171] 



SOLOMON TO THE CAPTIVITY 

built temples for their idols, and even 
joined in their worship. As a punish- 
ment, his kingdom was to be divided af- 
ter his death, and only two of the tribes 
were to remain faithful to his son and 
successor. Meantime, clouds on all sides 
gathered about Solomon's declining day. 
Edom and Syria rebelled against his 
authority. Jeroboam excited the north- 
ern tribes of Israel's to revolt, and pre- 
pared the way for the division of the 
Hebrew kingdom. Above all, the people 
showed more and more their discontent 
at the heavy burden of taxes laid on them 
by the king's vast and foolish expendi- 
ture. Solomon died after a reign of forty 
years, and was buried in the city of 
David, his father, 

X 



[72] 



THE NORTHERN KINGDOM 



2. The Northern Kingdom or Kingdom 

of Israel. 

(975-721 B.C.) 

(3 Kings xii.-4 Kings xvii.; Jonas; Tobias.) 

After Solomon's death his kingdom 
was soon rent in twain. In a national 
meeting at Sichem, in the centre of the 
land, Roboam, the successor of Solomon, 
was asked to lighten his father's heavy 
yoke. Roboam refused this with haughty 
and threatening words. In their anger, 
ten of the twelve tribes denied him 
obedience, and set up the Northern 
Kingdom or Kingdom of Israel, with 
Jeroboam as its head; the other two 
tribes alone remained under Roboam's 
rule, and made up the Southern King- 
dom or Kingdom of Juda. 
[73] 



SOLOMON TO THE CAPTIVITY 

As long as it lasted, the Northern King- 
dom was unfaithful to the Lord. Its un- 
faithfulness began with its very first 
ruler, Jeroboam. Hardly on the throne, 
this king felt that his crown and his life 
were unsafe if his subjects went as here- 
tofore to worship God in the Temple at 
Jerusalem which was in the dominions 
of Roboam. In order therefore to keep 
them from the Temple of the Lord, he 
brought in the worship of two golden 
calves which he set up, the one in Bethel 
and the other in Dan. The prophets of 
the Lord rose up against this calf-wor- 
ship, but the ten tribes joined in it, and 
each and all of the kings who reigned af- 
ter Jeroboam kept it up, and thus, like 
him, " made Israel to sin." Achab, one 
of these kings, did worse yet. He added 
to the sinful worship of the golden calves 
the infamous worship of Baal, the idol 
of the Phenicians. He built a temple to 
[74] 



THE NORTHERN KINGDOM 

Baal, in the city of Samaria, which his 
father Amri had made the capital of the 
Northern Kingdom. He hunted down 
and killed the prophets of the Lord, and 
if he did not succeed in his efforts to 
uproot altogether God's worship in 
Israel, it was because of the wonderful 
zeal and great miracles of the prophet 
Elias who lived at the time. All the line 
of this wicked tyrant was wiped out and 
nearly all trace of Baal worship dis- 
appeared shortly after the prophet 
Eliseus anointed Jehu king of Israel. 

The reign of Jehu was the turning 
point in the history of the Northern King- 
dom, for then it was that " the Lord be- 
gan to be weary of Israel." Jehu's own 
relations with Syria and Assyria were 
unfortunate for his kingdom, and the 
only king of his family who had a glori- 
ous rule was Jeroboam II. under whom 
the prophet Jonas was sent to preach in 
[75] 



SOLOMON TO THE CAPTIVITY 

Ninive. Not long after the end of Jehu's 
line, the Assyrian armies invaded Israel. 
In one of these invasions, the northern 
part of the Kingdom of Israel, west of the 
Jordan, was laid waste by the conqueror, 
and a large number of Israelites were 
carried into captivity. Finally, the 
Northern Kingdom came to an end in 
721 B.C. Osee, its last king, had been 
cast into prison by the invading As- 
syrians, and Samaria had been captured 
after a siege which lasted upwards of two 
years. The Israelites carried into exile 
in large numbers were chiefly placed in 
one of the farthest districts of Assyria, 
and strangers from various parts of 
Babylonia were brought in to occupy the 
deserted land of Israel. These new set- 
tlers soon joined to the worship of their 
own idols that of the Lord, and grad- 
ually formed a mixed race which was 
ever hated by the Jews. 
[76] 



THE NORTHERN KINGDOM 

The history of Tobias' faithfulness to 
God and of its final reward by the min- 
istry of the angel Raphael, gives an idea 
of the religious and civil state of the 
Israelites carried captives into Assyria. 



[77] 



SOLOMON TO THE CAPTIVITY 



3. The Southern Kingdom or Kingdom 
of Juda. 

(975-588 B.C.) 

(3 Kings xii.-4 Kings xxv. ; 2 Paralipomenon x.- 
xxxvi. 20; Judith.) 

Of the two Kingdoms formed shortly 
after Solomon's death, the Southern 
Kingdom or Kingdom of Juda, had for its 
special mission to keep alive the worship 
of the true God. The Temple of the Lord 
stood in Jerusalem, its capital, and was 
the only lawful place of public worship. 
In God's intention, too, the kings of Juda 
were to belong to the family of David, 
and were to show themselves worthy of 
that great monarch who, all his life, had 
worshipped the Lord alone. 

Of course, the first ruler of the sepa- 
rate Kingdom of Juda, the haughty Ro- 
[79] 



* SOLOMON TO THE CAPTIVITY 

boam, was not the man to understand, 
still less to carry out, this lofty mission. 
Born of a heathen wife of Solomon, he 
soon adored idols as his father has done 
during the last years of his reign. 
Abiam, his son and successor, trod in 
his wicked ways: Juda's next two kings 
were the God-fearing Asa and Josaphat. 
But although they both worshipped the 
Lord, the former was not able to uproot 
altogether idolatry from Juda, and the 
latter unwittingly paved the way for its 
full growth in the Southern Kingdom by 
marrying his son Joram to Athalia, the 
daughter of Achab, the most wicked king 
of Israel. Through Athalia's evil in- 
fluence, both Joram and his son and 
successor, Ochozias, were rank idolaters. 
Upon the latter's death, Athalia slew all 
the sons of Joram with the exception of 
the infant Joas, who was saved by the 
wife of the high priest Joiada and was 
[80] 



THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM 

kept hidden in the Temple of the Lord 
six years during which Athalia reigned 
over the land. In the seventh year 
Joiada the high priest caused Joas to 
be made king, Athalia to be slain, and 
idolatry to be destroyed. As long as 
Joiada lived, his counsels prevailed at 
the court of Joas, and God's worship 
flourished in Juda. But after his death, 
the wicked courtiers of the king got the 
upper hand, and Joas not only restored 
the worship of idols, but even ordered 
Zacharias, Joiada's son, to be stoned to 
death, because of his bold rebuke of the 
people's unfaithfulness to God. Like his 
father Joas, king Amazias began well, 
but worshipped idols towards the end of 
his life. 

The remaining history of the Kingdom 
of Juda is bound together with the mis- 
sion of the great prophets Isaias and 
Jeremias whom God raised, the one 
[81] 



SOLOMON TO THE CAPTIVITY 

shortly after the other, to guide both 
kings and people in the true service of the 
Lord. Even under such good kings as 
Ozias and Joatham, Isaias had much to 
say against the idolatrous practices which 
survived in Juda, and much more still 
against the soulless worship of God by 
the people at large. Under the wicked 
Achaz, the prophet's threats and warn- 
ings were not heeded : this wretched king 
burned his own children in honor of 
idols, shut the Temple of the Lord and 
left it to fall into ruins, and in punish- 
ment, Juda became the vassal of Assyria. 
When Ezechias reached the throne, 
things changed. God's worship was fully 
restored by the pious prince, and accord- 
ing to Isaias' prophecy, the Assyrian 
king, Sennacherib, was forced to a 
shameful retreat without being able to 
enter the Holy City. A new change for 
the worse occurred under Manasses, 
[82] 



THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM 

Early in his reign, this unworthy son of 
Ezechias caused Isaias to be sawn asun- 
der, and during many years gave himself 
up to the worship of idols even more than 
Achaz had done. For his great sins, 
Manasses was carried captive into Baby- 
lon, where he repented and was restored 
to his kingdom. It was during Manasses' 
captivity that the courageous Judith de- 
livered Bethulia from a besieging army of 
the Assyrians. 

The mission of Jeremias to Juda was 
even less successful than that of Isaias. 
Born in the last years of Manasses, Jere- 
mias witnessed, indeed, and greatly re- 
joiced at the religious reforms of king 
Josias, the pious grandson of that wicked 
prince, but not long afterwards he had 
to lament Josias' death in battle against 
the king of Egypt. His message of woe 
against Juda and Jerusalem drew upon 
him the wrath of all, high and low. Peo- 
[83] 



SOLOMON TO THE CAPTIVITY 

pie and kings ever " did what was evil 
in the sight of the Lord," and so his worst 
threats to them came to pass. In 606 
B.C., Nabuchodonosor marched against 
the Jewish king Joakim, took Jerusalem, 
and carried into Babylon a certain num- 
ber of captives among whom were Daniel 
and his companions. The next blow in 
598 B.C., was heavier still: Joachin, the 
son and successor of Joakim, all his fam- 
ily, the strength of the army and the no- 
bility, all the more useful artisans were 
taken into exile and together with them 
the priest and prophet Ezechiel. The 
last blow in 588 B.C. was certainly the 
worst: the Babylonian king invaded 
Juda, captured the Holy City, burned its 
Temple, broke down its walls, and car- 
ried captive into Babylon most of its 
inhabitants. He also appointed Godolias, 
a friend of Jeremias, governor of the 
wretched remnant which was allowed to 
[84] 



THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM 

stay in the land. But Godolias was soon 
murdered by one of his Jewish oppo- 
nents, whereupon the little remnant of 
the Jews, fearing the vengeance of 
Nabuchodonosor, fled into Egypt whither 
Jeremias went with them. 



[85] 



SOLOMON TO THE CAPTIVITY 



>J 






























■w 
< 




.§ 


























tf 




d 


























to 




ti 


75 


75 


75 


72 72 


75 


75 




75 


75 


75 


75 


75 75 


HH 




Ph 


Ph 


u 


Ph U 


U 


Ph 


75 


Ph 


u 


u 


Ph 


u u 






«M 


03 


OS 


03 


03 03 


03 


03 


>J 


03 


03 


03 


03 


03 03 


fa 
O 




o 


03 


© 


© 


© © 


© 


© 


03 


© 


© 


© 


0) 


© © 




•C 


>> 


>i 


>> 


>> >i 


>> 


>i TJ 


>» 


>s 


>J 


>j 


;>> >» 






to 


l> 


CM 


CO 


th CM 


r* 


CM 


1> 


CM 


CM 


LO 


CM 


CM CO 


03 




fl 


rH 


cm 




■** 


CM 






rH 


CM 


CM 




rH 


o 




0) 


























£ 




►J 
























































W 






























w 




'3 


























K 




tf 


duuuuuuuuuuuuu 


H 




o 
od 


CQ ffl pq 


CQfflfqfflfflWWWfflWffl 


fa 
O 




to 


iO 


CO 


LO T* 


CO 


O 


Oi 


os 


CO 


rH 


t^ 


«© OS 




£ 


t^ 


t^ 


iO 


LO to 


LO 


CO 


CM 


CM 


TH 


i-i 


OS 


OS CO 




• 


di 


C5 


C5 


OS C5 


Oi 


OS 


Oi 


C5 


OS 


Oi 


CO 


CO CO 


>H 


< 


•M 


























c 


(D 


s 


























o 


P 


E 


























■J 


•-D 




























o 






























o 




i— < 

cd 


























cc 


•3 




























ffi 






























u 




O 




a 


















75 










03 










•i-i 








.2 








1/3 

.2 




O 
O 

Ph 




03 
03 


03 

03 
03 


iH 


Ph 

hQ 

£ 

OS 


"ph 

E 


h3 
03 

o 




o 

a 


s 

OS 
Ph 

o 


o 








•-3 




& a 




O 


t-8 


fc 




























































£ 




a 


























o 




3 


























w 




t-a 


























Cfl 




o 




















*-» 










GO 

to 


S 

O 




£ 














03 

ft 




s 


CO 




3 




03 


03 












03 

75 










O 




3 


72 












o 




o 


H 






& 




< 


< 












»-3 




►-9 



[8b] 



CHRONOLOGY 



- 
































< 




s 




















75 








as 

03 




3 

rt 




BQ 


t/3 


oa 


oa 


oa 


oa 


^ 


oa 


ca ""S 


£ 


oa 


c^ oa 




Ih 


M 


M 


M 


- 


-~ 


M 


M 


— 


!h "£ 


o 


'~ 


- - 






CM 


C3 


cd 


cd 


od 


cd 


cd 


od 


cd 


cd 


cd £ 

<y O 





cd 


cd cd 


fa 

o 




o 


o 


D 


u 


0) 


CJ 


D 


c> 


c^ 


CD 


OJ 


o o 




jH 


>» 


>. 


^-. 


>> 


>. 


>- 


>. 


>. 


>« 


^ £ 


E 


>j 


>S >i 






w> 


rH 


OC 


CO 


o 


i> 


CO 


03 


rH 


CM 


CM co 


rH 


o 


CM O 


C/5 




C 




CM 




^r 


r-i 


T-1 


CM 


rr 


ta 


TH 




tH 


CM 


O 




a 




























Z, 




a 




























































« 




a 

to 




























H 


y^S 


*3 

cm 
O 

H 




























s 


3 


CQ CQ CQ M CQ £2 PQ tt PQ C2 PQ PQ PQ PQ CQ 


fa 


-S 




LO 


«tf 


rH 


05 


CO 


O 


OS 


lt: 


o 


Tf CM 


CM 


— 


TH O) 


o 




o 

>* 


00 


oc 


oc 


l> 


IC 


-r 


re 


CM 


— 


oc t^ 


t^ 


l> 


CO iO 




"*^J 


00 


oc 


oc 


oc 


oc 


oc 


oc 


oc 


oc 


t^ l> 


l> 


t> 


c^ c^ 


>< 
o 


5 


4-» 
0} 




























o 


o 






























►J 


v — " 


*"* 




























o 
































£ 




*3 




















^-^ 








c 


< 


2 
















1— ' 




B 








— 


Q 


w 
















HH 















•"5 


«M 

o 










s 






= 

cd 




GO cd 




= 


cd „ 




Q 


50 




-o 






cd 

- 

CJ 

cd 



oa 
cd 

c 




c 
c 

CJ 




- - 

,2h3 


E 


-= 

cd 

cd 


o o 
cd cd 


C 










M 




1-3 


-5 








w NJ c^ 


S 


Ch a. 


fc 






























£ 










ft 

- 



oa 






















C 




3 
>-3 


























C/2 




«M 

o 


ca 




s— «* 






















w 




50 

tc 


N 




a 








• — 














S 




3 


o 

o 

O 




< 


oa 

cd 


1-3 






cd 
E 
< 




oa 

o 











[87] 



SOLOMON TO THE CAPTIVITY 



J 
































< 




§ 




















G/3 








On 




53 




















A 




75 




C/2 

*-4 




tf 


09 


V2 


in 


Cfl 


00 




IA 


0*5 


V) 




75 


£ 


C« 




U 


M, 


u 


'- 


M. 




U 


u 


u 


c 


Eh 


u 




CfH 


a 


as 


as 


as 


as 




a 


CG 


as 


o 


as 


c 


as 






O 


Qi 


a 


QJ 


cu 


CD 




CD 


CD 


CD 


CD 


o 

E 


CD 


O 




fi 


>> 


>> 


>* 


^ 


>> 




>> 


>> 


^ 


s 


^ 


>» 






to 


CO 


CD 


O 


O* 


as 




iO 


CM 


"TH 


CO 


tM 




tH 


co 




fl 


^r-t 


TH 


tH 




CM 




uo 




CO 




t-i 


CO 


T-H 






o 

•J 




























>-■ 
































W 
































w 


/— N 




























. 


K 


13 


duuuu 




u i . - ; ^ _ J u 


H 


CD 


O 


PQ PQ PQ PQ PQ 




PQ 


PQ & 


03 


(-Q 


P3 PC ^ 




^s 


M 




























b 


3 


C« 


00 


CM 


oo 


O 


CO 




00 


CO 


1— 1 


o 


o 


Oi 


OS 00 


O 


^*»j 


£ 


lO 


Tt 


CO 


CO 


CM 




05 


■t 


T* 


rH 


t-^ 


O 


C5 00 




cd 


t^ 


C^ 


t^ 


t^ 


t^ 




O 


CO 


CO 


CO 


CO 


w 


iO to 


1* 


C 














/-n 
















O 


O 


m 












tH 
















O 




E 












CM 
















O 


| 


*s 






_^ 






a 

CD 
















o 

PC 


< 
Q 


CO 






e 






as 

•M» 
















|D 








fi 






















U 


"■3 


O 






cd 






cd 




















bO 






M. 
M. 

— 


cd 




'm. 

s 
















h 


3 








cd 

O 




as 

C/3 














^ 


o 










"*-'' 




^— - 














c 


& 






























CD 
































^H 


£ 
































o 




Cm 


























s 


in 




O 










C/2 




VI 












U3 « 






to 

C 

3 


s 

as 

o 

►"3 


N 

as 
< 






as 

o 
eg 

N 

W 




CD 


75 

.2 
o 

^5 


S3 

a 

a 
a 
o 

►"8 


as 
O 


a 

C3 

o 


2 rt 

^O CD 

CD h-3 



[88] 



V. FROM THE CAPTIVITY IN BABY- 
LON TO OUR LORD. 

(588-6 B.C.) 

1. The Babylonian Captivity. 

(Psalms cxxviii., cxxxvi. ; Baruch; Ezechiel; Daniel.) 

The fate of the exiles from Juda was 
most wretched in the opening years of 
their captivity in Babylon. Day after 
day they were forced to labor on the 
huge and numerous works of Nabucho- 
donosor, while overseers devoid of all 
mercy furrowed their backs with the lash 
to keep them or quicken them at work. 
Time and again, the dungeon, hunger 
and nakedness fell to their lot. In vain 
did they complain that they were " de- 
voured " and " broken in pieces." Join- 
ing insult to misery, their taskmasters 
[89] 



CAPTIVITY TO OUR LORD 

bade them sing the canticles of Sion. 
And so, the bitter anguish and revengeful 
hatred of the Jewish slaves found vent 
in such words as these : " O daughter of 
Babylon, miserable; happy be he who 
shall repay thee thy payment thou hast 
paid us! Blessed he that shall take and 
dash thy little ones against the rock! " 
In course of time, however, God had 
pity on them. He caused Daniel to find 
favor with Nabuchodonosor, and Daniel's 
three companions, Sidrach, Misach and 
Abdenago, to be appointed by the " King 
over the works of the province of Baby- 
lon." Little by little, the pressure of the 
Babylonian yoke was much relieved. 
Availing themselves of this, the Jewish 
captives complied with the wise counsel 
of Jeremias that they should build 
houses, plant orchards, marry their sons 
and daughters, work and pray for the 
peace and prosperity of Babylon. Nay 
[90] 



THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY 

more, they settled in groups or colonies 
here and there in Babylonia, and organ- 
ized themselves pretty much in the same 
way as formerly in the land of Juda. The 
history of Susanna and the two elders, 
in particular, shows to what extent both 
self-government and personal comfort 
came to be enjoyed by the captives in 
Babylon. In fact, when the royal decree 
of Cyrus finally gave the Jewish exiles 
liberty to return to the country of their 
fathers, the vast majority of them chose 
to stay in their now happy homes rather 
than to go back to the desolate towns and 
fields of Palestine. 

As God watched, in His mercy, over the 
material welfare of the two tribes in 
Babylonia, so did He watch over their 
spiritual interests. At first, idolatry 
flourished among them. Instead of see- 
ing in the captivity which had befallen 
them, the just punishment of their un- 
[91] 



CAPTIVITY TO OUR LORD 

faithfulness to God, they regarded the 
ruin of Jerusalem and of its Temple as 
a proof that the God of Israel was less 
powerful than the gods of the conqueror, 
so that to their minds, the safest way not 
to incur the wrath of such gods was to 
share in their worship. Over against 
these false views, God enabled Jeremias, 
and more especially Baruch, Jeremias' 
secretary, to argue with great power. He 
also caused Ezechiel to prophesy and to 
use his priestly influence in order to ex- 
cite sorrow in the breast of his fellow- 
captives and to suggest to them motives 
of hope by means of the glorious visions 
which he beheld in the land of exile. 
Above all, Daniel's unswerving fidelity 
to God, patronage at court, renown as a 
prophet, public exposure of the im- 
potence of Bel and of the deceit of its 
priests, were a providential means to 
keep up and promote throughout the 
[92] 



THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY 

captivity in Babylon the honor and wor- 
ship of the true God. And there is no 
doubt that before the end of the seventy 
years of exile, the Jewish faith had be- 
come purer and stronger, and remained 
so in the hearts and lives even of the 
Jews who did not return to the Holy 
Land. 



[93] 



CAPTIVITY TO OUR LORD 



2. The Return from the Exile. 

(1 and 2 Books of Esdras.) 

When the seventy years of the Baby- 
lonian Exile, foretold by the prophet 
Jeremias, were over, the Lord stirred up 
the spirit of Cyrus, the Persian con- 
queror of Babylon, to release His people 
from their captivity and to allow them 
to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. The 
royal decree to that effect was given in 
536 B.C. The Jewish exiles who at once 
availed themselves of it under the guid- 
ance of Zorobabel and the high priest 
Josue were forty two thousand three 
hundred and sixty in number. Soon af- 
ter their return, they set up an altar to 
God in Jerusalem, offered thereon the 
morning and evening sacrifices, and 
started again the keeping of the sacred 
[94] 



RETURN FROM THE EXILE 

feasts and festivals. " In the second year 
of their coming," they gladly laid the 
foundations of the Temple of the Lord. 
But owing to the opposition of the 
Samaritans or mixed race living in the 
land of the former Kingdom of Israel, 
they were hindered from carrying on the 
work until the reign of Darius I. On find- 
ing the decree of Cyrus, this Persian king 
ordered the Temple to be completed, and 
freely made gifts to meet the expenses. 
The rousing words of the prophets Ag- 
geus and Zacharias also urged the peo- 
ple on their w r ork, and the House of the 
Lord was happily finished and joyfully 
dedicated in 515 B.C. 

Under Assuerus, Darius' successor, the 
Jews who still dwelt in the land of ex- 
ile, were threatened with utter destruc- 
tion. At Susan, the Persian capital, the 
highest court official, named Aman, stung 
by an affront from the Jew Mardochai, 
[95] 



CAPTIVITY TO OUR LORD 

got a royal decree against the life and 
property of all Jews in the Persian em- 
pire. Esther, however, niece of Mardochai 
and queen of Assuerus, succeeded not 
only in reversing the decree, and thus de- 
livering her people, but also in obtaining 
vengeance by the slaughter of thousands 
of their enemies. In grateful memory 
of this deliverance, the feast of Phurim 
was instituted and is even now kept, 
year after year, by the Jews throughout 
the world. 

In the seventh year of the Persian 
King Artaxerxes, Esdras the priest, a 
learned scribe in the law of Moses, went 
up from Babylon to Jerusalem at the 
head of a second body of returning ex- 
iles. He was sent by the king to teach 
and assist the people of God, and was sup- 
plied with both a gracious decree in their 
favor, and rich presents for the Temple. 
By this time, the Jews of Jerusalem 
[96] 



RETURN FROM THE EXILE 

and the surrounding towns had so far 
neglected the Law as to take wives from 
among the daughters of strangers and 
unbelievers. After his arrival in Judea, 
Esdras brought forth the royal decree 
and gifts, and caused all, high and low, 
to put away their foreign wives. 

The walls of the Holy City were yet 
in their broken condition. Hearing of 
this, Nehemias, cupbearer to Artaxerxes, 
came with the king's authority as gov- 
ernor to Jerusalem. Through his efforts 
and in spite of opposition from powerful 
enemies of his people, he finished the 
walls and hung up the gates of the city 
in fifty-two days. Before going back 
to the Persian court, he took measures to 
provide for the defence of Jerusalem by 
increasing the number of its residents, 
abolished usury between Jew and Jew, 
had the Law read aloud to the people by 
Esdras, the ancient covenant with God 
[97] 



CAPTIVITY TO OUR LORD 

renewed and signed, and the city wall 
dedicated. Twelve years after his re- 
turn to Persia, he was sent again by 
Artaxerxes as governor to Judea. In his 
absence, the old abuses had quickly re- 
vived: intermarriage with the heathen 
had sprung up again; levitical dues had 
been neglected, and the Sabbath was 
freely broken. With the greatest vigor 
Nehemias set himself against such evils 
and did away with them. 



[98] 



THE MACHABEES 



3. The Machabees. 

(1 and 2 Books of the Machabees.) 

The power of the Persian empire, as 
Daniel had foretold, was overthrown by 
the Greeks under the conduct of Alex- 
ander the Great. But this new empire 
did not last long after Alexander's death 
in 323 B.C. Syria and Egypt, two of its 
chief provinces, were soon made inde- 
pendent kingdoms, and Judea was a part 
of each in turn, until the time of the 
Machabees. During these various 
changes, the Greek rulers of either king- 
dom allowed the Jews of Palestine to en- 
joy their religious and civil rights. The 
attempt of Seleucus Philopator, king of 
Syria, to have his envoy Heliodorus plun- 
der the Temple was but an exception 
[99] 



CAPTIVITY TO OUR LORD 



to this, and by God's power it signally 
failed. 

The first king who reversed this policy 
was Antiochus Epiphanes in whose days 
Judea passed finally under the sway of 
Syria. Long before this prince came to 
the throne, Greek customs and manners 
had little by little crept into Jerusalem 
from the surrounding Greek cities, and 
in the early part of his reign they had 
made much headway in the Holy City by 
the efforts of such unworthy high priests 
as Jason and Menelaus. Antiochus there- 
fore thought that the time had now come 
to enforce on all his subjects the Greek 
culture and idolatry of which he was a 
staunch advocate. But most Palestinian 
Jews refused to comply with the decree 
which he issued for that purpose. An- 
gered at this, the king ordered that all 
the Jews of his realm should renounce 
the worship and law of God, and offer 
[100] 



THE MACHABEES 

sacrifice to the idols which he set up in 
every city and even in the Temple of 
Jerusalem which he profaned with the 
image of Jupiter : " Whosoever would 
not do according to the word of king An- 
tiochus should be put to death." Among 
the great numbers who died martyrs by 
his persecution, w r ere the learned and 
aged Eleazar, and the seven brothers, 
who, with their mother, perished amidst 
the worst torments. Under God, the de- 
liverers of the Jews from such tyranny, 
were the Machabees. 

Hidden in the little town of Modin, 
there lived Mathathias, an aged priest, 
and his five sons. Summoned to sacrifice 
to idols by Antiochus' envoy, Matha- 
thias bravely refused and boldly raised 
the standard of revolt. At his death in 
167 B.C., Judas Machabeus, one of his 
sons, became the leader of the forces 
w T hich had little by little gathered around 
[101] 



CAPTIVITY TO OUR LORD 



him. Judas soon won victory after vic- 
tory, and two years later (165 B.C.) en- 
tered Jerusalem, cleansed the Temple, 
and renewed the Divine worship. In 
course of time, Jonathan, Judas' brother 
and successor in command was recog- 
nized as high priest of the Jews by the 
Syrian power and as an ally by Rome 
and Sparta. After him, Simon, another 
brother of Judas, was hailed by a na- 
tional assembly " prince and high priest 
for ever, till there should arise a faithful 
prophet." Judea was at length an in- 
dependent country with the children of 
Simon Machabeus as its hereditary 
rulers. Its territory was greatly enlarged 
by Simon's successors, one of whom, 
named Aristobulus, was the first to take 
the title of " King of the Jews " and the 
last of whom, Antigonus by name, was 
shorn of his power by the Roman Senate 
in behalf of the Idumean Herod. And 
[102] 



THE MACHABEES 

it was in the last days of King Herod 
that the great Son of David, the long- 
expected Saviour of the world, Our Lord 
Jesus Christ was born. 



[103] 



INDEX 



Aaron, 31, 32, 43, 45. 

Abel, 9, 10. 

Abraham, 18-22, 25. 

Absalom, 67. 

Achab, 74, 75, 80, 86. 

Achaz, 82, 88. 

Adam, 5, 7. * 

Altar, 14, 19, 37, 39, 40. 

Amalec, 34, 35, 60, 61. 

Antiochus, 100, 101. 

Ark, 13, 14, 39, 40, 47, 65. 

Assyria, 75, 76, 82. 

Athalia, 80, 81, 87. 

Baal, 74, 75. 

Babel, 16, 17. 

Babylon, 83, 84, 89-93. 

Barac, 54. 

Baruch, 92. 

Benjamin, 28, 50, 52. 

Bethlehem, 64. 

Cain, 9-11. 

Calf, golden, 37, 38, 74. 

Captivity, 76-78, 84. 

Chanaan, 19, 43, 46, 47-50. 

Circumcision, 19. 

Covenant, 14, 19, 37-39. 

Cyrus, 91, 94, 95. 

Daniel, 84, 90, 92. 

David, 61, 63-67. 

Debbora, 54. 

Egypt, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 

34, 35, 38, 43, 68. 
Elias and Eliseus, 75. 
Esau, 21, 22, 25. 



Esdras, 96, 97. 
Esther, 96. 
Eve, 6-8. 
Ezechias, 82, 88. 
Ezechiel, 84. 
First-born, 22, 23. 
Forty Years' Wandering, 

44. 
Gabaon,Gabaonites,48,49. 
Gedeon, 55. 
Gessen, Land of, 29. 
Gomorrha, 20. 
Great Sea, 69. 
Heli, 58. 
Henoch, 11. 
Hor, Mount, 45. 
Horeb, 35. 
Idolatry, 18, 37, 53, 72, 

74, 76, 80-82, 91, 100. 
Isaac, 20, 21, 22, 25. 
Isaias, 81-83. 
Israel, Name of Jacob, 

25; Kingdom of, 73-76. 
Jacob, 22, 25. 
Jehu, 75, 87. 
Jephte, 56. 

Jeremias, 81, 83-85, 94. 
Jericho, 47, 48. 
Jeroboam, 73, 74. 
Jerusalem, 65, 69, 79, 83, 

84, 94, 96, 100. 
Joab, 66. 
Joiada, 80, 81. 
Jonas, 75. 

105 



INDEX 



Jordan, 46, 47, 50, 52, 76. 

Joseph, 26-29. 

Josue, 44, 46, 47-51, 53. 

Juda, Tribe of, 50, 52; 
Kingdom of, 73, 79-85. 

Judas Machabeus, 101, 
102. 

Judges, 53-57. 

Judith, 83. 

King, Demand for a, 59. 

Kingdom of Solomon, Ex- 
tent of, 69. 

Laban, 23-25. 

Lamech, 11. 

Law, 34, 36, 38, 39, 97. 

Levi, Tribe of, 30, 50. 

Lot, 19, 20. 

Machabees, 99, 101. 

Manasses, 46, 50, 52, 82, 
83, 88. 

Manna, 35, 43. 

Mardochai, 95, 96. 

Mary, Sister of Moses, 
43, 45. 

Mathathias, 101. 

Mori a, 64. 

Moses, 31-34, 43-46. 

Nabuchodonosor, 84, 85. 

Nebo, Mount, 46. 

Nehemias, 97, 98. 

Nile, River, 30. 

Noe, 12, 13-15, 18. 

Noemi, 57. 

Paradise, 5, 7, 8. 

Paschal, Lamb, 33. 

Persia, Persian, 94-99. 

Pharao, 32. 

Philistines, 55-57, 65. 

Plagues of Egypt, 32. 



Prophet, 58, 60, 74, 75, 

81, 82, 94, 102. 
Putiphar, 26. 
Rachel, 24. 
Rahab, 47, 48. 
Rebecca, 21. 
Red Sea, 33, 34. 
Revolt, 72, 73, 101. 
Roboam, 73, 74, 79. 
Ruth, 57. 

Sacrifice, 9, 14, 21, 82. 
Samaria, 75, 76, 95. 
Samson, 56, 57. 
Samuel, 59-62. 
Sara, 19, 20. 
Saul, 58-63. 
Seed of the Woman, 8. 
Sennacherib, 82. 
Serpent, 6, 7, 45. 
Seth, 11, 12. 
Sinai, Mount, 34-36, 41. 
Sion, Mount, 64, 65. 
Sodom, 19. 
Solomon, 66-73. 
Spies, 43, 44, 47, 48. 
Sun and Moon, Stand 

Still, 49. 
Susanna, 91. 

Syria, 23, 65, 99, 100, 102. 
Tabernacle, 39-44, 66. 
Tables of the Law, 38. 
Temple, 66, 69, 94, 95. 
Ten Commandments, 36. 
Tobias, 77. 
Tribe, 30, 46, 50, 52, 68, 

72, 73. 
Water from Rock, 35, 45. 
Witch of Endor, 62. 
Zacharias, Prophet, 95. 
Zorobabel, 94. 



106 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 243 876 8 



11§1I§I 

."-:':.•:■ 



